Crate



e reigned Aogio, 1943 Y CRATE Donald R. Swingle andk Villiam tV.Robinson, Chattanooga, Tenn., assignors to Cumberland Case Company, Chattanooga, Tenn.,

tion of Tennessee JApplicaticn Januaryf, 194i, Serial No.r` 373,498

e 4 claims.: (ci. 21V-e5.) The present invention relates to crates and par-V ticularly to crates of the type generally used in the transportation of milk bottles. .Objects of the invention are to provide a crate of strong yet economical construction and one wherein `the bottles are safeguarded from breakageldue to rough handling. The features of improvement whereby these objects are obtained will bedescribed with reference to the embodiment shown, by way ofY example, in the accompanying vdrawlIlg.

' YIn the drawing: Y e l YFigure 1 is a plan view partly broken away of aV crate constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2-is a section substantially on line 2-'2 of Figure 1. l e Y e Figure 3 is an isometric view showingl the bot-Y tom construction in part and an associated corner element. A

Figure 4 is a section on line 4--4 of Figure 3, and

Figure 5 is a bottom plan ViewY of the corner element of Figure`3. s

Referring to the drawing, reference numeral I0 designates a rectangular continuous bottom wire or rodrwhichconstitutes a runner, the rod ing of all kjoints. The upwardoffsetting of the.

larly lightrand rigid bottoml andzcorner unit and l one of particular durability in view ofthe weldwires of the supporting grid permits the latter to Y yield freely without strikingthegroundor floor in a manner which might causebr'eakage of thel contained bottlesii the crate is dropped.v De;

, sirably theoffsetting is such ,that the grid wires constituting Va runner; cornerelements rising will' not catch on the stacking virons when one crate is being slid yon another during stacking.'

The invention is,'c course, susceptble'of vari-w ation in detail from the specific disclosure here-v y in, and,consequently,we do not Ylimit ourselves inrsuch matters exceptgas in theffollowing claims.

Weclaim: i 1. A crate having afrectangular bottomvwireA from said wire, each of said'elements including4 Aan outer angle welded to.k the outside of Vthewire and an inner angle having a foot portion welded to theV toprof the wire, fa supporting grid. weldedv to said wire, and slats above said wirewith their` Y v ends `secured .between the angles of said corner elements. Y

' 2; A crate having are'ctangular:bottom wire constituting a runner, corner elements rising fromY being here contemplated as of oblong form with rounded corners. Rising from each corner of the wire is an element Il which includes an outer angle l2 conforme-:1 to the outside of a corner of wire lil and welded thereto, theangle lapping the wire so that its lower edge is substantially v at the bottomof the wire but no lower. Element Il includes an inner angle I5 having its lower end centrally. split longitudinally andbent Youtwardly rectangularly Yto provide feet l5 and il Y which are welded to the top of the wire l@v at the corner so that the walls of therangle are subf stantially parallel tothe walls of angle l2. A

stacking iron I8 is secured to the upper end of angle l5. l

A supporting grid includes crossed wires i3 and which are'welded together and whose ends are welded on tcp of the opposite sides and ends of the bottom wires. VSlats y2l extend above the sides and ends of the bottoni wire Hl and have their ends received between the inner and outer Y angles ofthe corner elements, lower right of Figure 1, and riveted thereto, the spacing of the Vwelded-to'said wire, and slats above said wire with f Y ner elements,

- Aand slats above said wire secured betweerrtheV l inner and outer anglesY as determined by' the'fV feet I6 and l1 being the thickness of the slats.

Just inwardly of the slats the grid wires are bent abruptly upwardly as at A22' and 23 to provideY horizontal supporting portions elevated substantially above the secured endsV of the grid wires.

Positioning grids 24 and 25 are supported in lierfs of the slats above the supporting'grid.

The described arrangement affords a particuf said wire, .eachof said elements including anv out-` er angleV welded to the outside ofthewire and aninner angle, the. bottom portion ofsaidinner 1 l 30 angle .being split and bent outwardly to provideA feet welded on-top ofgthe wire',` aV supporting gridA their ends secured betweentheangles' of rsaid cor- 3. A crate having a rectangular bottom wire,l constituting a runner,` corner elementseach .in-V

cluding inner and outer angles rising'fromsaid wire and welded thereto, one of thev angles of each of .said elements being bent at the top 'of 4the wire to provide ka spacing from its associated angle greater than the diameter of sai'o`l`l wire,

angles ci said corner elements.`

i4. A crate `having a rectangular bottoinwire constituting a runner, metal corner elements eachy 'includinginnervand outer angles rising from said wire, the vangles of eachcorner element having j parallel portions, spaced ffrom each other afdis- A l'tance greater than lthe diameterof said wire,

spacing means between the vangles of' eachorner' element welded tof'said wire, one ofthe' angles of Veach corner element being welded directly to Y 1saidvwire and the other being` iixed to said wire e Y;

through said spacing-means, asupporting grid'.V

welded to said wiregland slats above said wire se' cured between the angles of `said corner elements. i

lDONALD RQ SWINGLE.

WJLLIAM w. RoBINsoNgA l' I 

